Communism's Enablers and Excusers

In fact, Soviet communism spread misery through its own 12 time zones and in many parts of the world, though NBC's John Chancellor refused to see it. In 1991, as the Soviet coup unraveled, Chancellor said, "the problem isn't communism; nobody even talked about communism this week. The problem is shortages." Wait, according to the Los Angeles Times reporter, there were no shortages because everyone was housed, employed and had enough to eat? Both can't be true.

Ted Turner, the former CNN mogul, is always good for an outlandish quote and when it came to Soviet Russia, he offered a cornucopia of self-deluded statements, none better than this one: "(Gorbachev is) moving faster than Jesus Christ did." But Time magazine bested him with this howler when it described Gorbachev as both "the communist pope and the Soviet Martin Luther."

Never ones to admit failure for their favorite theories, the Left still refuses to acknowledge their errors. They simply moved on to new errors, in this case to Cuba. In 2006 an Associated Press story said, "For all its flaws, life in Cuba has its comforts. Many Cubans take pride in their free education system, high literacy rates and top-notch doctors. Ardent Castro supporters say life in the United States, in contrast, seems selfish, superficial and -- despite its riches -- ultimately unsatisfying." Is that why so many Cubans have risked their lives to reach America?

Again, Ted Turner on North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il: "I saw a lot of people over there. They were thin and they were riding bicycles instead of driving cars." An incredulous Wolf Blitzer replied, "A lot of those people are starving." Turner said, "I didn't see any brutality." (Read more at www.mrc.org.)

The point is not only to hold the media accountable for its past sins, but also to remind them they are making the same mistakes today with different enemies -- radical Islam and the Chinese brand of communism. No wonder the public trusts them about as much as they trust Congress.